The Justices said Blackwood was too hasty in finding former Judge Richard Baumgartner`s conduct was so bad the verdicts had to be overturned.

The ruling apparently says Blackwood should have considered the totality of the case.

NS: Let’s not get too excited about this just yet, boys and girls. The TSC still gave Judge Blackwood the option to again make mischief.

Justices directed Blackwood to "expeditiously" decide whether he can weigh in on the verdicts for Davidson, Cobbins and Thomas.

If Blackwood decides that he cannot, then he`s obliged to grant the men new trials, according to the court.

I’ve been sweating bullets for weeks over this case, because I promised my associate, David in TN, that I would meet him in Knoxville for the June 11 opening of the Davidson retrial, and I even told The Boss I’d be going. But with all the judicial maneuvering necessitated by Judge Mischief II (Blackwood), I was afraid that I’d book a flight, and then get screwed.

I argued previously that Judge Blackwood’s new brand of mischief would impose an impossible burden on the criminal justice system, by bringing jurists’ personal lives into the courtroom, and leaving them open to blackmail. With the TSC’s ambiguous decision, unfortunately the door to such mischief remains open.